a meaningless phrase repeated again and again begins to resemble truth.

I’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room.

That was when we smelled the rain. It was so strong it seemed like more than just a smell. When we stretched out our hands we could practically feel it rising up from the ground. I don’t know how a person could ever describe that scent.

Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature.

God, why does a mortal man have children? It is senseless to love anything this much.

Small change, small wonders - these are the currency of my endurance and ultimately of my life.

There were two things about Mama. One is she always expected the best out of me. And the other is that then no matter what I did, whatever I came home with, she acted like it was the moon I had just hung up in the sky and plugged in all the stars. Like I was that good.